The Three Children of Impertinens
by skullcandyklive
Summary: 3 teenagers from the village of impertinens journey to the imperial capital with only one objective in mind; to save their village, but how will things play out differently, if all three of them each wielded an Imperial Arm? Read about their adventures as they try to make a fortune to save their village, while also trying to fight the grasp of the capital's corruption.


**The Three Children of Impertinens**

 **...**

 **Rating: T...for now**

 **Genre: Adventure/Romance**

 **Characters: Tatsumi, Sayo, Ieyasu, Night Raid members**

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 **Prologue: Kill the Chosen Ones**

 **...**

 **...**

...Mountain range surrounding the village of Impertinens on the outskirts of the northern region, Imperial year 1019, Day 20, 12:00 noon...

...

It is no secret that the imperial capital's inner corruption has caused an unspeakable ordeal of suffering and distress to the nearby villages resting outside its border.

With the constantly rising and increasing frequency of taxation imposed by the capital, the small village known as Impertinens is steadily being driven to the brink of bankruptcy, starvation and famine and with the ever-present threat of being purged by the empire via incineration hanging above their heads, the villagers are left with no choice, but to comply.

That being said, the villagers had taken it upon themselves to earn money by engaging in a multitude of profitable endeavors to pay off the empire's taxation and to allow their village to survive.

Even a trio of thirteen year olds had taken the initiative and trekked up the nearby mountains of their village with the objective of hunting down the surrounding danger beasts either to use the meat for food, to sell rare danger beast material, or both.

At any rate, the little group of 13 year-olds, who were currently in a small clearing on the snowy mountain's cliff side edge, consisted of a brown-haired boy with emerald green eyes wearing a tan sweater, black pants and brown boots. He also had a short sword strapped on his back.

The next one was a girl with milky white, straight black hair with a white lavender flower clip, and black hair. She wore a light lavender kimono that ended at mid-thigh length with a purple obi tied around her waist, white knee-high socks, and white boots. She also had a simple wooden bow slung on her shoulders and a quiver of arrows on her back.

The last one was a boy with spiky black hair and black eyes. He wore a white headband on his forehead, a light brown sweater with ridges, black pants and brown boots. He was also carrying a double-edged battle axe.

The high altitude of their current location at the top of the snowy mountains coupled with the sheer cold weather brought forth by the northern climate made a harsh environment that would've froze any inexperienced explorer to death.

So the mere fact that this trio of hunters were waiting patiently for their prey to lower its guard in the shadows of the cave entrance, despite the harsh surroundings was a testament to their skill, talent and experience, despite their young age. Granted, their thick black coats may have had something to do with their prolonged endurance.

"Is it still onto us, Tatsumi?" The black-haired boy asked as he readied his battle axe, while eying their target danger beast, an enormous herbivorous mammoth that was roughly 15 times bigger than an adult human, known as a Pakipo.

With its thick fur, they could use the material to create coats for the upcoming winter in the village and its meat was not only plentiful, but really delicious too, not to mention the long shelf life. If you consider all that, it was definitely the ideal target, plus it isn't known for attacking humans and mostly flees at the sight of danger.

The only downsides were that they had incredibly sharp sense and fast running speed, which makes them more than a little difficult to catch and subdue and that's why a sneak attack was the best approach.

"I don't think so, Ieyasu. Looks like now's the perfect time to strike." Tatsumi replied, before facing his childhood friends with a confident smile. "You know the plan, Sayo, Ieyasu?"

"I'll charge in and strike its knees to keep it from running..." Ieyasu said with the same grin.

"...I'll shoot its legs and its neck to weaken it..." Sayo continued with a small gentle smile as she readied her arrows.

"...And while its distracted I'll finish it off by slashing its throat" Tatsumi finished with large smile as he unsheathed his sword.

The two boys crouched down, preparing to engage the elusive danger beast as they readied their weapons, while their female companion, Sayo, took aim with an arrow already loaded on her bow.

A beat of silence.

The two boys suddenly rocketed across the blanketed snowy white clearing with all the speed they could muster, not bothering with the silent approach since they would be noticed by the danger beast anyway. The Pakipo's head immediately shot up and it lumbered back on its feet in a surprising display of agility for its size. The Pakipo prepared to flee, but before it could an arrow whizzed past the two boys and plunged itself deep in the tendon behind its knee.

The beast trumpeted in pain as it collapsed on it knee. It tried to get back up again, but by that time the two boys had already reached the danger beast. Without hesitation, Ieyasu slammed his battle axe on one of the beast's other knees while a hail of arrows plunged deep into the beasts neck. At this point, the pakipo had given up on trying to flee and simply opted for struggling and flailing like a fish out of water.

This little action of panic did three things. One, Sayo could no longer get a clear shot at the beast's neck, two, Ieyasu could no longer strike the beast's knees without risking being trampled on and three, it gave Tatusumi the opening he needed.

The boy in question dodged a random trunk swipe from the panicking Pakipo and charged inside its range in a low crouch, just as the beast flailed its head up;l, exposing its threat.

 _Here I go._ Tatsumi thought deteminedly as he launched himself with all the force he could muster in his pre-pubescent legs towards the creature's exposed neck.

He gave a loud battle cry, before he swung his sword at the beast with all his might.

As soon as he completed the arc of his swing, Tatsumi jumped back from the danger beast to gain some distance. Not a second later, blood gushed out from the danger beast's throat like a fountain, tainting the white snow in a crimson red tint.

A few seconds later, the beast went stock still, before dropping down onto the ground, the noise of the crash resounding clearly as the clearing shook under the force of the fall.

The trio waited for a bit longer, before giving a sigh of relief at the success of their hunt. After cheering each other their respective commendations and compliments, the trio wasted no time in out carving the valuable meat and fur of the Pakipo and looting it in a bag that they had brought with them.

Since the three did venture into the mountains with no one else, they didn't have the option nor the means to drag down the whole carcass back to the village. So they simply opted to carve out as much as they can carry back to the village.

Though something was still bothering them...

"Hey, have you guys ever wondered why no one's going up in the mountains nowadays?" Sayo mused idly as she folded the fur she managed to carve out of the Pakipo and packed it into her bag.

True enough, no one had ventured into the mountains in the last few weeks, which was rather strange considering the fact that this is the time of year the Pakipo is in season and thus, considering the potential gain from hunting these mammoth-like danger beasts, not going into the mountains was rather odd.

"Now that you mention, it is really strange that no one had trekked up here in the last few weeks" Tatsumi said as he scrutinized the meat he carved out from the Pakipo.

"I asked my dad why he wasn't going into the mountains, but he just dodges the question every time and says that I should just go play like kids my age" Ieyasu added his two cents as he continued carving out meat from the Pakipo. "Yeah, right. Like we could just go playing around when our village is on the brink of bankruptcy and starvation"

"Yeah, the elder does try his best to smokescreen the real state of the village from us" Tatsumi agreed with a slight nod. "And its not like the adults would even bother telling us anything"

"Speaking of which, we're gonna be in so much trouble when we get back to the village this afternoon" Sayo reminded her friends both, which made them freeze before nodding in agreement, albeit sulkingly.

"Well, we kinda have it coming. We shouldn't expect anything less after we basically snuck out of the village under the pretense that we were going to play hide and seek" Sayo reasoned with a small smile.

"You don't have to rub it in" The duo said sulkily as their depression reached new heights, while they continued their respective tasks.

Thinking that she had teased her two best friends enough, she decided to cheer them up by bringing up the silver lining to their little escapade into the mountains...

"Look on the bright side, maybe when we come back, the elder would be so overjoyed by what we brought back that he would forgo any and all punishments and declare us heroes of the village for bringing a ton of meat and material for coats to either sell or for the villagers to use"

...despite how absurd and how unlikely it was to happen.

The two immediately perked up at the idea as they simultaneously ceased their previous tasks as their expressions turned dreamy and distant with wide grins on their faces, most likely imagining the scene that Sayo had accidentally painted into their minds with vivid detail.

Sayo could only sweatdrop at the two as they started giggling and chuckling to themselves.

Well, that was certainly easier than she expected. Personally, she didn't really believe the idea to be all that probable to happen, seeing as that the elder would be completely against the idea of sending out three 13 year olds into the mountains alone, no matter how skilled they were.

Looking at the duo again, Sayo sighed as they still haven't come back from their fantasies yet and simply opted to secure the bag that contained the Pakipo's coat on her back.

"Who knows, maybe the elder would realize that we couldn't just play like normal anymore and allow us to hunt danger beasts" she mused aloud to herself, before giggling and shaking her head.

All of a sudden, she heard something that seemed more than a little out of place in the cold snowy clearing on the mountain. She froze on the spot, before she narrowed her eyes in concentration as she strained to hear the peculiar sound.

"Sniffing?" Sayo asked aloud as the sniffs increased in frequency and decreased in duration. It didn't sound like normal sniffing, either. She couldn't explain it, but she could just feel that it didn't sound human. "must be a danger beast" She deduced to herself as she continued to listen to the sound.

 _I can practically hear this thing salivating._ She thought in disgust as the sound of slurps that came with the sniffs.

Her eyes suddenly widened at the implication of said actions; this danger beast was hungry and something told her that it isn't as friendly or harmless as the Pakipo.

She turned back to Tatsumi and Ieyasu to warn them, only for her blood to suddenly run cold and for her words got caught by the lump in her throat at the sight before her. She opened and closed her mouth in an attempt to warn her childhood friends, who were still lost in their fantasies, but no words came out. She felt paralyzed and struggled to regain control over her own body's movement.

No more than a measly 9-10 meters away from them was a danger beast that was just a large as the Pakipo they just killed, though that's where their similarities ended. The creature had wrinkly and leathery loose pale gray skin that covered a wide muscular body. It stood on all fours and judging by the fact that its winged forelegs were much longer than its stubby hind legs, this danger beast was probably a wyvern. The most eye-catching feature on this beast, however, was its neck and head. Its neck was rather worm-like or snakelike in structure, seeing as that it could stretch and slither in various directions in the air without moving its body from where it crouched close to the ground. Its head, on the other hand, could easily be mistaken for being a stump on the neck, if it weren't for the fact that there was a large mouth on the other end, which revealed row after row of small, but razor-sharp jagged teeth and the gums that held them in place. It had no eyes, nose, or ears, only a mouth at the end of its elongated neck.

Somehow, this little detail made the danger beast all the more terrifying and frightening.

A few more seconds passed and Sayo finally managed to get the words out of her mouth, albeit only above a whisper, but it was enough.

"T-Tatsumi...I-Ieyasu..." She called out and the two broke out of their respective daydreams to lool at their female bestfriend.

"Sayo? Are you feeling okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Tatsumi said with concern creasing his features, oblivious to the imminent danger.

Sayo simply continued, instead of answering his questions.

"I think I found the reason why no one's been trekking into the mountains these past few weeks." Sayo said quietly with the same horrified expression fixed on her face. The two boys quirked an eyebrow in questioning, before turning around to face whatever Sayo was looking at.

Needless to say, their reactions were largely similar to Sayo's.

As if on cue, the monster suddenly stopped sniffing the air and turned its head towards them slowly, seemingly looking straight at the trio, despite its distinct lack of eyes. Its lips curled back even further to form a vicious snarl and revealing even more of the creature's gums and teeth.

That expression sent a clear message to the trio of friends.

Run.

Without further hesitation, the trio all suddenly broke into a sprint and ran full tilt towards the cave entrance on the side of the mountain where they came from. They may have just taken down a danger beast by themselves, but they weren't foolish enough to think that they could never win against that monster, let alone survive an encounter.

They were almost inside the cave's entrance, when a deafeningly loud shriek reverbrated in the clearing, effectively immobilizing them as they attempt to block out the noise by covering up their ears. The sheer shrillness of the sound was so unbearable that they gritted their teeth in pain, even as they covered their ears.

When the wail finally ended, it took a few precious seconds for them to regain their bearings and resume the normal functioning of their body. However, in the time they took to recompose themselves, the danger beast had leapt up into the air and landed in front of the cave's entrance with a loud crash, thus blocking the trio's only escape route.

The beasts elongated neck then suddenly stretched and slithered slowly towards Sayo, sniffing the whole time. The black-haired girl in question fumbled in panic, before she tripped in her own fear and landed on her butt as the head inched closer to her.

At this point, Tatsumi and Ieyasu had broken out of their stupor and charged at the danger beast's head with their weapons raised to slash/chop at the creature that threatened their friend.

Once in range, Tatsumi slashed his sword down in a wide arc for an overhead slash in hopes of severing the creatures head clean off its shoulders. However, as soon as the blade made contact with the skin on the creature's neck, it ricocheted and made Tatsumi flounder backwards as he lost his stance's footing. Ieyasu did the same thing, hoping that the weight of his axe blade would provide more momentum and thus more cutting power than Tatsumi's sword. Unfortunately, the results were the same and Ieyasu sprang backwards, lost his footing completely, and fell on his rump.

After that last attack, the beast shifted its attention away from Sayo and to its two assailants, Tatsumi and Ieyasu.

Seeing that the beast was now distracted and preoccupied, Sayo saw this as a chance to regain her bearings, as well as, to retaliate. She readied her bow and loaded it with an arrow as her eyes narrowed in concentration, while her friends barely dodged the beast's attacks.

 _Its hide is definitely too thick for my arrows, if Tatsumi and Ieyasu couldn't so much as put a scratch on it._ Sayo thought to herself ruefully as she tried to think up of a plan, since they weren't going to escape with this creature chasing after them. _What should we do?_

As she thought this, the creature then tried to bite Tatsumi, who jumped back in the nick of time to avoid being chomped on.

Sayo's eyes widened in realization.

 _That's it!_

She readied her bow again and loaded an arrow as her eyes narrowed with renewed determination. She knew what she had to do now, she just had to get the beast's attention somehow.

As if on cue, the beast turned to her, probably frustrated with its current elusive prey. Its elongated neck stretched closer to her, her friends started panicking as they shouted for her to move, but Sayo was completely calm as the head inched closer to her.

 _Just a little more._ She thought to herself as she gripped her arrow tightly, staring daggers at the approaching head.

A good five feet away from her the beast opened its massive maw and Sayo's eyes widened in determination.

 _Now!_ She thought as she released her loaded bow and the arrow sailed through the air.

Time seemed to slow down as the arrow rocketed towards the beast's open maw, until the projectile shot into the beast's gullet, disappearing in the darkness and as soon as that happened, the beast suddenly froze and closed its mouth shut, before all hell broke loose.

An ear-piercing shriek of complete and utter pain and agony resonated from the danger beast as it flailed its elongated neck wildly, like a headless chicken while it ran around randomly; slamming into the mountain wall, tripping onto the floor, and falling on its own back.

Seeing the beast's predicament, the trio of friends wasted no time in making a beeline for the cave entrance and their escape route, but not without some choice words for their female companion's course of action.

"Are you insane, Sayo?!" Ieyasu exclaimed in out rage as they entered the cave entrance without stopping their sprint.

"That was really dangerous! That thing could've eaten you!" Tatsumi shouted in worry and outrage.

"You're welcome and no need to thank for saving both of your butts" Sayo snapped, completely annoyed at her two best friends. Sure, her plan was more than a little risky, but it saved them in the end, right?

Talk about ungrateful.

...

...Several minutes of running, cave sprinting, and mountain trekking later...

...

Tatsumi, Sayo and Ieyasu were currently in the middle of the mountain path that led to down from the mountain the thick forest that surrounded their village. They had been running for quite awhile now, but nonetheless, they weren't out of the woods yet. They may have made it down the top of the mountain, they may have been on the open path by the side of the mountain, but they were still a long way away from the village.

Having said that, after running like their lives depended on it for more than a few minutes, they had to eventually stop to take a break and catch their breath, as indicated by the fact that they were all panting and huffing as they hunched over with their hands on their knees in pure exhaustion.

"You think we lost that thing?" Ieyasu asked through his huffs.

"Pretty sure we did, we have been running for a while now." Tatsumi agreed as he panted heavily.

"Just to be on the safe side, let's keep moving, we can be completely certain that thing won't try to chase us" Sayo reasoned as she stood up straight to look at her friends, much to the disbelief of her friends.

"Come on, Sayo. Can't we rest up for a while longer" Ieyasu whined, which prompted Sayo to glare at him fiercely.

"In case you haven't noticed, we have a man-eating danger beast hunting us down like prey" Sayo retorted, annoyed with her friend's whining.

"S-she's right, Ieyasu" Tatsumi agreed as he tried to stand up straight, like his friend, but struggling to do so. "We aren't out of the woods, yet. We still don't know what kind of danger beast that was, much less what its capable of, but from what I can tell its got a really sensitive sense of smell and if its persistence is as good as that, then it might try to track us down."

Sayo gave her friend an appreciative smile, which he returned with wide one of his own that made her blush and look away with a hand on her heart.

He always did have a way of making her heart skip a beat.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Ieyasu still hadn't picked himself and was continuing to whine and sigh. She was about to snap when an idea struck her. She looked at Tatsumi and was pleased to see that he appeared to have had the same idea, if his expression was any indication. They shared a look of understanding, before snickering quietly.

"Don't tell me that you, the great Ieyasu, lack the stamina to march forth and complete our quest?!" Tatsumi said in an overly dramatic tone of mock horror as he took a step back away from the boy in question with a hand on his chest.

Sayo supressed a giggle and let out a loud gasp, while shaking her head and looking at Ieyasu with the same expressiom of mock horror.

"Say it isn't so, were you...an imposter all this time? We trusted you! How could you lie to us?!" Sayo said in the same overly dramatic tone with a bit of mock horror and mock outrage, while barely being able to stifle her giggles.

They almost burst out laughing, when they saw their friend fuming at them, while blushing in embarassment, before shakily getting up on his feet with his eyes burning with the fire of newfound passion and the raging desire to mend his pride, which was already tearing at the seams.

"Of course, I, the great Ieyasu, am still of able body to forge onward with our return to the village" declared Ieyasu bravely and passionately as he hit his chest with his fist in self-certainty. "I was just trying to give you two the chance to get some extra rest, seeing as how generous I am as you bestfriend" continued Ieyasu as he gave them a thumbs up, a smile, a wink.

That did it.

Tatsumi and Sayo prcatically rolled on the mountain path floor's with the sheer intensity of their laughter. They just couldn't help themselves anymore at Ieyasu's excuses to repair his damaged pride. Ieyasu sounded so sure of himself and was completely oblivious to how absurd he sounded that it was laughable. His little speech sounded anything, but convincing.

However, their little bout of comedy relief was abruptly cut short when they heard the sound that they dreaded to hear now of all times.

A shrill shriek of pure fury resonated in the cold air, which made all three of the thirteen year olds freeze in realization, before lifting their heads up to the direction of the sound, while subconsciously hoping that it was just their imagination.

No such luck though because, sure enough, dive-bombing straight at them at an alarming speed was the danger beast that they had supposedly escaped a few minutes prior, except this time its lips, maw, teeth and gums were caked in blood, presumably from the injury Sayo caused. Ironically, this only served to give the creature an even more menacing and fear-inducing appearance.

Another thing to take note of was the fact that its mouth was pooling with white mist that seemed to suggest that the creature was very angry.

As the danger beast closed in on the trio at an alarming speed, their brains were working double time and racing against the clock as they tried to calm themselves down and weigh their options, if there were even any options to begin with.

If they stayed and fight, then there's no doubt that they would be killed and eaten by the danger beast, seeing as that it wouldn't likely fall for the same trick twice, plus it didn't look to be in the brightest of moods.

If they tried to run down the mountain path, then there was no doubt that it would catch up to them in no time and the results would be obvious then.

If they ran back to the cave to hide, they probably wouldn't make it either, considering the speed of the creature, not to mention that even if they did make it to the cave, they'd be trapped there for who knows how long and if that happened their village would probably send search parties, only to be hunted down by that danger beast.

Considering all that, they only had one option left and it wasn't one they were ecstatic about.

The trio gulped, before promptly looking over the mountain path's cliff edge. The side of the mountain wasn't necessarily steep, but it wasn't necessarily gradual either. If they decided to jump the cliff was positioned in such a way that they would slide down the side of the mountain, instead of falling to their doom, but it was still pretty steep and if they weren't careful they could lose control over their momentum and crash into tree or rock , which would be fatal at that velocity.

Also, if they didn't survive it would likely be less painful than being eaten alive by that danger beast.

No matter how they looked at it, this was their best bet of survival, they just needed to be extremely careful.

They looked up again at the danger beast and estimated that it would only be mere seconds before it reached them.

The trio of friends then looked at each other and nodded at each other, as if they had come to a decision. With Tatsumi on the right, Sayo in the middle, and Ieyasu on the left, they all held hands together firmly and stepped close together, before they closed their eyes and took a deep breath to brace themselves.

Just a mere 5 seconds before the danger beast crashed onto the mountain path, the trio of friends jumped off the edge of the cliff. For a fleeting second, they felt like they were suspended in mid-air, like they were flying across the sky.

The moment shattered as the shriek of fury resounded again and gravity finally took its toll.

As their slide across the mountain side began, thye could safely assume that they had never experience anything like this before. The wind was rushing across their faces at such a force that they had to squint their eyes to bear it, the heat on their butts and backs grew hotter as their velocity increased and the sheer coldness of the snow did nothing to ease it, the G-forces pushing against their bodies made them go rigid and tense in panic, their minds were working a mile a minute as they struggled to process, make sense, and recover from the sheer shock of their current situation and their surroundings raced past them faster and faster every second, while they struggled to maneuver out of harm's way in time.

The longer their ride lasted, the greater their velocity became and the faster their velocity became, the less they had control over what they could do and the less they had control over what they could do, the more danger they were in.

Overall, this wasn't an enjoyable experience, which is why they were screaming in unison the whole way.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Their little escape plan went on for an agonizingly long period of time that felt like hours to the trio, but was actually only a few minutes in reality. Before they finally came to stop, however, they flew over a reasonably tall cliff and landed in the middle large of a snow-cushioned valley.

In other words, they were now lost and had no idea how to get back to their village.

Fantastic.

On the bright side though, they had a relatively soft landing, considering the force of their previous forward momentum.

Once they recovered from their initial 'high' courtesy of the adrenaline that coursed through their veins during their little snow slide, the trio stood up from the soft cushioned floor of the snowy valley and dusted themselves off, albeit still looking unsteady and shaky on their feet.

Regardless, they had their priorities in order.

"We should probably hide somewhere" Tatsumi suggested, which prompted Sayo and Ieyasu to nod in agreement.

He had a point afterall; if that danger beast wasn't likely going to give up on the hunt, now of all time. If it didn't let its injury stop it from trying to kill them, then why would it stop now?

Conveniently enough, there was an old and abandoned relatively medium-sized shrine near the edge of the valley. It didn't look like much, but it was their best bet.

As the trio started walking towards the old shrine, however, they couldn't help but feel a strange intangible pull from the shrine. They couldn't explain it, but it felt like some unseen force was beckoning them to come closer and the closer they got to the shrine the more...comfortable or safe they felt, like they were approaching a place they grew up in and had known, since they were children; they felt a special connection in it, a connection that seemed almost hypnotic in nature, seeing as that they could hardly bring themselves to walk away from the shrine.

They were so entranced by strange sensation that they didn't even noticed that they had already entered the shrine's rather aged interior and were currently facing a solid stone wall at the end of the shrine.

Without missing a beat and completely entranced by the enticing pull they were feeling, the trio placed their right hands on the stone and they pushed it slightly. The wall seemingly receded slightly, before it slid out of the way, revealing a flight of stairs that led down to a secret basement.

Well, it looks like they found the perfect hiding place.

Yet again feeling the enticing pull that urged them to descend the flight of stairs, the trio made their way down to the basement and with each step they took, the greater the pull became and the more prominent the feeling of 'connection' and 'being connected' became.

Eventually, they made it down to the very bottom of the, admittedly large and spaceous basement, which was conveniently lit by torches that were attached to on the walls. The basement itself wasn't anything special and looked considerably older than the upper floor, since there were substantially more cobwebs and dust clinging on the aged wood that made up the walls.

However, in the middle of the basement there were three pitch black caskets, which were coated in a very thick layer of dust and dirt. Strangely enough, the beckoning or pull they had been feeling was coming from one of the three individual caskets.

Without further hesitation, the trio approached the coffin that they felt the strongest connection to; Tatsumi approached the coffin on the left, Sayo approached the coffin in the middle, and Ieyasu approached the coffin on the right.

They blew on the lid of the casket to blow away some of the accumulated dust, before they simultaneously pushed off the lid, making it slide off to the ground and revealing the contents of said caskets.

The trio's eyes widened in awe, wonder, and astonishment as they beheld the contents of their respective caskets.

For Tatsumi, there was a bright yellow katana with a yellow sheath and a yellow hilt, which had carved horizontal ridges and a silver metal plate with golden lettering that he didn't understand, resting in the casket's velvet-lined bed. Embedded in the velvet cover was a metal plate with engraved letters that was likely the weapon's name.

'The Lightning Wolf's Wrath: Zinogre'

For Sayo, she was gazing at a golden grand long bow with an intricate design engraved into the metal and two bladed edges on both ends of the weapon, making it appear to be a crescent blade or glaive in the shape of a bow, lying in the same velvet-lined bed. There was also a metal plate with engraved letters embedded onto the velvet.

'The Sky Hunter's Echo: Delrania'

For Ieyasu, he was looking at a very large and very tall two-handed golden switch axe that looked like it was a few inches taller than Ieyasu. Its golden blade had a single edge that was engraved with an intricate design and was large enough to dominate a quarter of the overall length of the handle, while opposite the axe blade was a folded golden sword blade with the same intricate design. Like the other two, it also had a metal plate engraved with letters embedded on the velvet-lined bed.

'The Earth Weaver's Vanguard: Basarios'

Simultaneously and subconsciously, they reached out and took the weapons out of the velvet-lined interior, immediately feeling as connection as they did so, it was almost like the weapon was a part of their body.

Tatsumi tried to unsheathe the sword and paused when, much to his surprise, the chains unraveled themselves and slithered around his waist as he tried to do so. Once he recovered, he proceeded to unsheathe the katana, revealing a turquoise blade. He tried a few test swings and found the weight to be just right for him. Granted, he'll have to get used to the sword styles of the katana.

Sayo then lifted up the grand long bow/crescent glaive and tried a few test swings. She wasn't really used to using a melee weapon, but she found the motion rather fluid and easy. She tried holding it up like a bow out of sheer curiosity and despite the fact that there wasn't a bow string. She imagined gripping a string as she held it like Delrania like her main weapon and all of a sudden, much to her surprise, the two bladed edges on the ends of the bow split apart to form an 'X' shaped long bow.

She could also make out a barely visible green string connecting from the four ends of the bow to the her trigger grip. She then promptly tried imagining an arrow loaded onto the bow and as she did so, the air swirled around the space where the arrow would be, before manifesting into the shape of the projectile in question; an arrow made of golden swirling air.

Ieyasu then lifted up the massive axe with two hands, which was something he initially struggled with. The massive weapon wasn't as heavy as he expected, though it definitely had a great amount of weight to it, but it was still manageable and quite frankly, he didn't expect that he could even lift the damn thing.

Granted, between its massive size and weight, it was a weapon that would be more suitable for slow and heavy attacks that take the time to gather momentum from the attack's swings or arcs to create powerful devastating attacks.

Naturally, this would also mean that he wouldn't be able to make quick last-second and agile split-second movements, which would've been disorienting for any other fighter, but Ieyasu was accustomed to such attacks, being an axeman and all.

Before any of them could inspect their weapons any further though, a muted crash resounded from outside and caused several dust particles to fall from the ceiling followed by a very familiar shriek.

Feeling a swelling sense of confidence, determination, and bravery coursing through their very being, they all looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement with a determined smile gracing their face mouths, before rushing up the stairs to face their adversary once with their newfound weapons ready in hand.

They rushed up the flight of stair with fiery determination and when they arrived at the shrine, they could see the unknown danger beast in the snow-covered valley through the shrine's entrance and one glance was all they needed to see that it was even more furious than before, but that did little to dampen their resolve as they rushed out of the shrine with their weapons in hand.

 _This is it!_ Was what they were all thinking as they burst through the shrine entrance and into the snow-covered valley.

The danger beast turned its attention to them immediately and as soon as it did, the three split up; Tatsumi ran left, Ieyasu ran right, and Sayo ran straight. This tactic seemed to confuse the creature, seeing as that its head was turning from left to right, seemingly unable to decide on a target.

Deciding to exploit the creature's momentary indecision, Sayo stopped running, raised her bow and took aim at the unknown danger beast. A golden arrow made of swirling air and wind materialized in the barely visible bow string as the currently X-shaped weapon bent back to accommodate and accumulate the force.

Sayo released her grip and the wind arrow sliced through the space between her and the danger beast in a straight path. The arrow promptly pierced the tough hide that protected its back, eliciting a wail of agony from the creature as blood poured out of the wound. The archer didn't relent on her attack and took aim once again, before launching another wind arrow this time piercing its forelegs.

At that, the beast locked its gaze at its assailant and charged at Sayo with a fierce wail. Unfazed by the charging danger beast, Sayo continued her relentless assault, landing hits on the beast's back and forelegs. The creature's head closed in on her with its gaping maw ready to devour her, but Sayo sidestepped in the last second and the bow in her hand immediately collapsed together into the crescent glaive. Sayo then slashed her crescent glaive at the monster's forelegs, making it trip and slide across the snow-covered surface.

Before the creature could recover from its fall, however, Tatsumi charged at the beast with his katana and plunged the turquoise blade into the beast's back and immediately the blade glowed vibrantly, before bolts of blue electricity and yellow lightning ravaged across the beast's entire body, making it wail in pain, fury, and rage as its body spasms uncontrollably under the sheer voltage.

All of a sudden, stone restraints suddenly sprouted from the ground and subdued the danger beast by pinning it to the ground. Ieyasu then charged at the danger beast with a loud battle cry, dragging the massive pole axe on the ground the whole way, before he swung it in a wide arc and down on the beast's head.

The danger beast's wails were immediately silenced once the large axe blade severed its head from its neck and its struggles slowly weakened before ceasing entirely.

As the trio of friends finally allowed themselves to finally relax and lay down on the valley's snow-covered floor, one question still remained on their minds.

How are they going to explain this when they get back?

…

…

 **Update: Just a few little tweaks to some of the typos, as well as, the application of simply calling the creature's sound a shriek. Also, it seems I forgot to add the name of Ieyasu's weapon, which I fixed in this update. sorry!**

 **And that ends the prologue for my third Akame Ga Kill story, so any thoughts?**

 **For a reference on Tatsumi's katana, it is simply a bright yellow Murasame, they pretty much have the same design and size.**

 **For a reference on Sayo's longbow/crescent glaive, google a picture of "LOL Arclight Varus" and picture the weapon. Its where I drew inspiration from.**

 **For Ieyasu's weapon simply picture the switchaxe from Monster hunter.**

 **At any rate, please feel free to follow/favorite, if you want to see more and feel free to leave a review to let me know your concerns and comments.**

 **See you next time.**


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